SPAIN:Levante extended their remarkable early-season run when they beat 10-man Malaga 3-0 on Sunday to rejoin champions Barcelona at the top of La Liga.
The tiny Valencia-based club, whose annual budget of around €20 million compares with Barca’s of almost €500 million, took the lead through Jose Barkero in the 14th minute before Malaga goalkeeper Willy Caballero was shown a straight red card for handling outside his area.
His replacement Ruben saved the resulting free kick but Juanlu, one of a slew of Levante players over 30 years old, was quickest to react and poked the loose ball in to double the home side’s lead with just over half an hour gone.
A Ruben howler gifted Levante a third in the 41st minute when he failed to clear and Arouna Kone broke clear to tap the ball into an empty net.
La Liga top scorer Lionel Messi netted his ninth and 10th goals of the campaign in a 3-0 win for Barca, bidding for a club record-equalling fourth title in a row, at home to Racing Santander on Saturday.
Barca and Levante have a one-point lead over Real Madrid, who thumped visiting Real Betis 4-1 on Saturday thanks to a third hat-trick in two weeks from Messi’s Argentina team-mate Gonzalo Higuain. Valencia, who drew 1-1 at Real Mallorca on Saturday, are fourth on 14 points.
In Sunday’s earlier kickoffs, Real Zaragoza’s Portugal striker Helder Postiga struck twice, including a brilliant volley, to earn a 2-0 home win over Real Sociedad.
Ivory Coast midfielder Ndri Romaric scored the only goal as Espanyol ended a run of two defeats with a 1-0 victory at promoted Rayo Vallecano.
ITALY:Juventus and Udinese stayed level at the top of Serie A after five of Sunday's six afternoon games ended in goalless draws.
Juve’s visit to Chievo and Udinese’s trip to Atalanta were among the 0-0 draws.
Cesena captain Adrian Mutu was sent off against his former team Fiorentina in another 0-0 draw.
Genoa and Lecce also failed to hit the target as did third-placed Cagliari and Siena, while only Bologna’s 2-0 win at Novara broke the monotony.
Napoli lost 2-1 at home to Parma on Saturday when Palermo were drubbed 3-0 at AC Milan.
Lazio won the Rome derby last night thanks to a 53rd-minute Hernanes strike and and an injury-time Miroslave Klose penalty. Pablo Osvaldo had given Roma an early lead.
SCOTLAND: Neil Lennon walked up the tunnel at Kilmarnock at half-time on Saturday fearful of his future as Celtic manager – but went to bed last night hoping that the season had taken a turn in the Parkhead club's favour.
Celtic were facing the prospect of falling 13 points behind leaders Rangers after Kilmarnock raced in to a sensational three-goal interval lead through Dean Shiels, Paul Heffernan and James Fowler.
Lennon’s pep-talk inspired an equally dramatic comeback with three goals in six minutes, Anthony Stokes scoring twice before Charlie Mulgrew headed an equaliser.
Lennon enjoyed more good fortune a few hours later when St Mirren struck in injury time at Ibrox to win a point against Rangers. Celtic are 10 points behind Rangers and three behind second-placed Motherwell – although Celtic have a game in hand.
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